I find this subject as an important one for our sport. Rustam has been the most successful light middle weight puller in the history. First time I ever saw him was 2000 Europeans in Istanbul. He was a junior champion who also pulled seniors and took second to Russian Valery Goussov. Rustam was undefeated till the final but lost twice in the final.

In fact when I won 1999 Europeans in Hungary he was a junior puller as I later saw him in the videos of the competetion when he was watching my matches against Tsakhilov. He was 17 then. It was 2001 WAF and I went there when I was very ill.

There I saw the Ukranian puller Bogdan Borisenko who took 2-nd to me in 1999 Europeans. In 2001 EAC he won the gold in 70kg left category but I was not there. So he seemed like he was there for the revenge of 1999. His right hand wasn’t as good as his left but there he mentioned Rustam Babayev by saying "You will have a very tough opponent with right arm".

That event was the only time I have pulled Rustam. In that event I was victorious with both hands but I was amazed of Rustam's power. After that day, he dominated his weight class between 2002-2012. His dominance was so much accepted that his matches most of the times were the least interesting matches of the competetions. There had been times that he was in trouble though. In 2002 WAF he has lost 1 match against Zoloev who was a junior then, in 2003 EAC he had WARS against Tsakhilov who defeated Rustam once there but lost on fouls in last match. In same event Tsakhilov and Hubulov defeated Rustam with left arm. In 2004 EAC he had some trouble against Chermen Khadaev who was a junior then had a tough final match against Ruslan on junior day. But Chermen still gave a 20 seconds long match to Rustam on that day. In 2005 WAF this time Pascal Girard gave a big trouble to Rustam in Japan. In 2006 Rustam was defeated with left arm by Umar Shakmanov (R.I.P.) in Hungary Europeans. In same event Bulenkov also defeated Rustam but lost on elbow fouls.

Some time after this event Umar's doping test results found to be positive and Rustam won another European title. During those days Rustam was competing also pro events and he was defeated by Bulenkov 2-4 in a left hand supermatch. Except a little trouble that Lengarov gave to Rustam in 2009 WAF with left arm Rustam had some easy competetions for some years and in 2010 EAC Moscow a young Ukranian talent Prudnyk shook Rustam's throne

for a good 50 seconds. Some weren’t so sure if that was a show or real since they are from same country. In 2011 Nemiroff World Cup Rustam was defeated by someone who was lighter than himself. Zoloev Hadzimurat from Russia beat Rustam after a tough hook match there in Poland. But it was an overall category match and Rustam had won his class before this match

already. And finally it was in 2013 Europeans and Rustam was finally defeated with right arm after 10 years in WAF and EAF event. The guy who shook his throne before this time defeated him after some wars that should be studied as an armwrestling lesson in all the armwrestling clubs in the world. Evgeny Prudnyk from Ukraine was the new King of the Rustam’s category. There was hook, there was toproll, there was everything in the battle for the throne. Rustam's battle to

keep his crown was as legendary as his career and he didn’t lose it before making Prudnyk paying the price. Prudnyk won the event and we all were waiting for the revenge in next WAF but it was declared that Rustam was tested positive during this event and it was a second blow to Rustam.

 This year the suspension of Rustam is ending and as an armwrestler who has been following the career of this Legendary athlete, I am wondering ıf he is going to end his career with what happenned in 2013 Lithuania EAC or not? I would love to see him making a great comeback shake the armwrestling world for some more years. As far as I know he will be allowed to pull Malaysia WAF of course only if he returns. If Rustam returns to armwrestling this will be a huge thing for our sport.

Engin Terzi